Men's Basketball Drops Season Finale to Catawba

March 1, 2008

Men’s Basketball Drops Season Finale to Catawba

Brevard, N.C. – Coming off a win on Wednesday night over the Newberry Indians, the Brevard College men’s basketball team battled back from a slow start to push the Catawba Indians to the limit before falling 77-64 in their season finale on Saturday afternoon.

The Tornados had a rough first half, as BC shot only 25 percent from the floor and scored only 17 points in the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Catawba Indians jumped at on top early, outscoring the Tornados 13-4 in the first seven minutes of play.

The Indians pushed their lead to double digits at the 7:59 mark of the first half, but did not give in there, as they outscored the Tornados 17-8 in the final eight minutes of play to take a 38-17 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Tornados turned things around as a layup by sophomore Jonathan Whitson at the 19:32 mark, triggered a 12-0 BC run over the next four minutes of play to cut the Catawba lead to nine at 38-29.

Brevard would get as close as nine points on three separate occasions in the second half, but could not get any closer as the Indians had an answer to ever Tornado offensive run.

A jumper by junior Joseph Chilton at the 2:26 mark cut the Catawba lead to eight at 69-61, the closest that the Tornados had been since early in the first half.

However, Catawba made some clutch shots down the stretch, including hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the closing minutes of play to seal a 77-64 road win over the Tornados.

The Tornados were led by Whitson’s 17 points and 12 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season. Fellow forward Chilton had 15 points, while sophomore Shane Galloway added 13 points off the BC bench.

For Catawba, sharp-shooter Rob Fields had a game-high 19 points, hitting 3-of-5 three- pointers for the game. Forward Antonio Houston had 14 points, while Isaac Rose had 12 points, hitting free-throws down the stretch to help seal the win for the Indians.

Saturday afternoon’s game was the season finale for the Tornados, as they finished their second year as an NCAA Division II provisional member and their first year playing a full South Atlantic Conference slate.